


If It's Anyone's Fault, It's the Greeks

by cjmarlowe



Category: Vikingane | Norsemen (TV)
Genre: Bedsharing, First Time, M/M, accidental contact
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 19:56:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17049590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cjmarlowe/pseuds/cjmarlowe
Summary: It rained very heavily that night.





	If It's Anyone's Fault, It's the Greeks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [makiyakinabe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/makiyakinabe/gifts).



"It's just around this next corner. I remember now. I remember this tree." Orm struck the base of the tree with his walking stick. A piece of bark fell off into his hair.

"That's because we passed it an hour ago," said Liv. "You're taking us in circles, Orm."

"No, I'm not. This is a different tree. It's...bigger."

"A different tree with the same dead bird beside it?"

"It's a forest. There are lots of dead birds in the forest, and many of them are dead near trees because that's where they live. They live in the tree, they die in the tree. That is just the life of a bird."

Liv huffed and walked on ahead.

"It does look like the same bird," said Rufus.

"It doesn't," said Orm. And he should know. He was currently composing an ode to the original bird, which had just slightly more red on its breast, and which had surely lived a long and fulfilling life in his tree. "As long as we are following the sun, we will never see the same tree twice."

"Or bird," said Rufus, "unless it's flying ahead of us."

"Well that one isn't flying at all, so obviously it's not the same one," said Orm, and trudged on ahead before Liv started to think that she was leading the way. 

Rufus took a deep breath beside him. "Even the air smells better on the continent," he said, "and it's already getting warmer. I can feel it."

It was definitely getting warmer, and if Orm was still feeling a chill at night, that was only because he was spending them alone. It was a psychological chill, not a physical chill.

"If we are getting closer to Rome," said Liv, "shouldn't we have crossed the sea by now?"

"We did," said Orm. "Don't you remember that water that we crossed a couple of weeks ago?"

"That was a stream."

"No, no, that was the sea. We just found the place were it was the smallest, so it would be easier to cross. You know, the narrowest." He held his hands close together, and Rufus nodded his head sagely.

"Narrowest? We walked across it, Orm."

"Exactly. Work smarter, not harder, as they say. Would you rather we had to find another boat? Do you know how to build a boat?"

"No, I don't know how to build a boat," said Liv, "but if we didn't need boats, wouldn't it be easier for our warriors to pillage?"

"Yes, but your warriors are idiots and I am much more clever than them," said Rufus.

" _We_ are much more clever than them," added Orm. "If they were smart, they could have found the narrowest part of the sea, too, but they were too busy with their swords and their treasures and their making fun of anyone who was more refined and more artistic than them."

Liv frowned, then stopped under the wide branches of an ancient tree. "We'll make a camp there," she said, pointing just the other side of a rise. "I'll start setting up, and you to can find some firewood."

Orm paused and looked around himself, at the uneven ground and the unsheltered boundaries. "No, I think over here is better," he said. "You were close, though. You were close but not quite there."

"Here?" said Liv. "Here, where there are rocks and branches and things sticking up out of the ground? Here?"

"The rocks and branches are good for the fire," said Orm. 

"Yes, everyone knows that," said Rufus. The look on his face suggested he was dubious, but he had Orm's back. "What are you going to burn over there?"

"We can just gather sticks and bring them with us," she said. "It's just right there. There are probably sticks over there, too. There are sticks everywhere."

"That's because this land provides for us," said Rufus. "That is why it built great civilizations, not like your little hovels up north."

"We will make camp here," said Orm decisively, and dropped his bag and that was that.

"Fine," said Liv. "You make your camp right there and I'll make my camp over here, and when it rains tonight I will be dry and you will be soaked and miserable."

"It's not going to rain tonight," said Orm. "I would know if it was going to rain. I can sense these things"

"Like you sensed the last two times?" said Liv. "The sky is getting dark. It's going to rain." She didn't wait for another response, disappearing over the rise. It did look like a lovely spot for a camp, but Orm was not going to say that.

"The sky is getting dark because the sun is going down," he said instead to her retreating back, raising his voice with each word. "It's not going to rain."

It rained very heavily that night.

Orm wrapped his cloak very tightly around himself, then part of Rufus's cloak too when Rufus seemed to be sleeping soundly enough to not notice. Moments later Rufus yanked his cloak back, and Orm with it. It was so sodden that it sprayed them both, the remains of the fire, and their pack of food, all of which were wet already.

Orm yanked it back.

"This was a terrible place to camp," said Rufus.

"It was a great place to camp," said Orm. "Liv just angered the gods, and now they are punishing us. They have taken our great new continent and they're making it feel like our old barbaric village, because she did not appreciate it enough."

"Your gods followed us here?" said Rufus. "They're a long way from home. You would think they would have something better to do than follow us to Rome."

"Maybe they too want to find a more civilised people," said Orm. He tried to get more cloak again, and just succeeded in getting a fistful of sodden bread.

"Don't move," said Rufus, and rolled over almost on top of him. It was so unexpected that Orm _didn't_ move, not at all, not even when Rufus started moving against him. But just when he thought things were getting somewhere, Rufus was rolling back again and something heavy was dragging overtop of them. "That's better."

The leafy limb, freshly brought down by the storm, was very scratchy, but Orm had to admit it was warmer. But there was something that would be warmer still.

"Wait," he said, and rolled back overtop of Rufus this time. "Let me just get another one. There's one right here... I can almost reach it." 

"Are you sure?" said Rufus, beneath the fullness of Orm's body now. "I don't remember seeing one over there."

"I've almost got it," said Orm, wriggling atop him. There was, in fact, another fullsome branch just out of his reach. He just hadn't known it was there when he started reaching. "Maybe if you moved a little bit too."

"You don't think it would be better if I stayed still?" said Rufus, as Orm slid over and straddled one of his legs. "You're on my--"

"Just another moment," said Orm, pressing Rufus's body to the ground and actually managing to wrap his fingers almost all the way around the thick branch, though he hadn't actually expected to. "Oh. I've got it."

"Good," said Rufus, but when Orm pulled it closer and flung it overtop of them, they were so fully covered it prevented them from separating almost entirely. Neither of them moved at all for a moment. They were still both soaked right through their clothing, but the branches were dense enough that no more water was getting through to them, and their body heat was warming the enclosed space more quickly than one might have expected.

"That's better," said Orm, curling his body around Rufus's unabashedly now and pressing his face into his neck.

Rufus shifted a little bit beneath him. "It is," he said, sounding surprised. His neck was cold, but Orm's breath was hot and soon the dampness felt more like perspiration than cold rain. "We should make one of these shelters before we sleep next time."

"Or after," said Orm. "Whichever. We can just play it by ear."

"It would be better if we weren't wet," said Rufus, pulling open his sodden tunic with one hand so the damp fabric wouldn't be sticking to him quite so much. Suddenly Orm's bare shoulder was pressed to the bare skin of his chest. It, too, grew warm. 

"But sometimes it's okay being wet," said Orm. "You might even say that sometimes it is better when you're wet."

Rufus shifted his leg. His tunic caught against Orm's cloak, the wet fabrics dragging against one another and barely moving at all. "Not when it's rain," he said. "It's like the baths in here now."

"We should be so lucky," said Orm. He did wish he wasn't wearing his boots, though.

"Next time we'll build a shelter with branches and sleep inside," said Rufus.

"Or Liv will build us a shelter. I think it should be her job," said Orm. "And then she can go sleep wherever she likes."

"Yes, she needs something to keep her busy," agreed Rufus. "While we are using our minds, she can use her hands to help us." His breaths were heavier, and the air grew even warmer and more humid. 

"But if we forget," said Orm. "We could do it like we just did, because this worked out okay. In the end it worked out all right."

"If we forget," agreed Rufus. "And if it rains."

"Or even if it doesn't rain, in case it rains later on," said Orm, lacing his fingers through Rufus's hair.

"Yes," agreed Rufus a few moments later, after Orm tugged his head back just enough to expose his throat. "We will do this from now on." He shifted his body more successfully this time, and wrapped one let around Orm's. Orm's lips closed around his earlobe. "It is much smarter."

Orm couldn't agree more.


End file.
